Suturing machines of this type shall have the smallest possible overall volume because they must be introduced into the human or animal body, and not only the operational controls proper, but possibly also the drives for the stitch-forming tools are therefore arranged in a housing which remains outside the body and they are connected to the operational controls by means of transmission means.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,841,888 shows a suturing machine called an “endoscopic suturing machine” with a tubular housing, with the stitch-forming tools arranged at the end of the housing that is to be introduced into the body, and the free other end of the housing carries the operational controls, which are connected to the stitch-forming tools via transmission means arranged inside the tubular housing.
Since only single-thread chain stitch of the stitch type 101 (DIN 5300 Part 1) is to be prepared with this suturing machine, the stitch-forming tools as well as their movements are relatively simple and are formed by a needle, which is arranged longitudinally displaceably in the tubular housing and carries a thread and by a shuttle cooperating with the needle. The shuttle is formed here by an essentially V-shaped lever, which is provided as the beak of the shuttle at the end of one leg. The end of the other leg is mounted pivotably at an elastic projection of the housing, which also acts as the support surface for the beak of the shuttle at the same time. As soon as the needle has performed a loop lifting movement initiated by an actuating element of a wire-shaped design, the shuttle is pivoted into the thread loop formed by a second actuating element, which has likewise a wire-shaped design and acts on the tip of the “V.” At the end of this pivoting movement, the beak of the shuttle lies on the projection, so that the thread loop grasped by the shuttle is held by the shuttle until the needle is inserted the next time, and the needle can be pushed into the thread triangle formed by the thread loop to cut off the thread loop.
Since an actuating element of a wire-shaped design each is fully sufficient both for generating the longitudinal movements of the needle and for generating the pivoting movements of the shuttle, the design effort needed for this is relatively low.
However, it is disadvantageous that only a simple chain stitch of stitch type 101 can be prepared hereby and only a simple straight suture can be prepared as a result, which is disadvantageous compared with a so-called cover-stitch suture, especially in the area of medicine.